C-SPAN caller tells ‘No Kings’ organizer the movement’s ‘message’ is ‘very poorly constructed’

A self-identified Independent voter detailed to MoveOn’s Joel Payne in a C-SPAN call Monday why he thinks the “No Kings” protests have poor, “confusing” messaging.

Far-left organization MoveOn is one of the partners of the so-called “No Kings” movement, which is slated to hold over 2,000 protests on Saturday throughout the United States, according to fellow partner Indivisible. The caller told Payne on “Washington Journal” that “kings” are not an issue in America, arguing the movement should have a nonpartisan focus on billionaires instead.

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“I’m not a huge fan of MoveOn.org. The ‘No Kings’ seems to be a very poorly constructed message. We don’t have a ‘kings’ problem, we have a billionaires problem,” the caller said. “We have massive wealth and income inequality. And when you start talking about ‘kings’ it gets very confusing because billionaires are not left, they are not right. They hold power. They are not American; they’re abroad as well. So that would be a much better thing to march behind is ‘no billionaires.’”

“I would like to see the left in this country get back to fundamentals,” he added. “Fundamentals would be really going back to sort of the civil rights and just an idea of equal protection under the law, a message of economic justice, a message that is antiwar with specific legislative goals and not a slogan like ‘anti-kings.’”

Payne said he believed MoveOn shared similar sentiments with the caller.

“We actually think that the frustration with billionaires, with power being centralized and a couple of wealthy individuals is very important,” he said. “I think that’s very much a part of the types of things that people will be protesting peacefully at ‘No Kings’ this weekend.”

However, Payne then pivoted to attacking President Donald Trump’s administration.

“It’s not the existence of wealthy people, it is the fact that you have a government that has transferred $1 trillion in wealth from the working class, from people who are economically distressed to the wealthy and the well-connected,” he said. “And that’s not what Donald Trump said he was going to do. Donald Trump said he was going to level the playing field, he was going to make things better for working Americans. And so far, the grade is not coming back good on Donald Trump’s promise there.”

The first set of “No Kings” protests took place in June, with some of them turning violent.

“In June, millions of everyday Americans from every walk of life peacefully took to the streets and declared with one voice: No Kings,” the movement’s website states. “The world saw the power of the people, and President Trump’s attempt at a coronation collapsed under the strength of a movement rising against his abuses of power.”

“Now, he’s doubling down — sending militarized agents into our communities, silencing voters, and handing billionaires giveaways while families struggle,” it adds. “This isn’t just politics. It’s democracy versus dictatorship. And together, we’re choosing democracy.”

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